Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany, written and illustrated by Jane Mount
I love everything about this book. Books about books always intrigue me, but this one's easy to read in little bits of time, all the bookish trivia is interesting, and the painted illustrations are awesome. Each two page spread covers a bookish topic (formative faves, novels of the 1800s, iconic covers, southern lit, dystopia, bookmobiles, read around the world, etc.) and some topics are repeated throughout the book (beloved bookstores, writing rooms, striking libraries, etc.). Mount also has three other book-related books - two for adults (I'm skimmed one and haven't seen the other yet), one for kids (loved it) - that she's illustrated.
Finding Lost, written by Holly Goldberg Sloan and narrated by Khaya Fraites
I did a search for good middle grade audiobooks and this was on one list. A girl, her younger brother, and their mom are still grieving the death of their dad and husband a few years earlier. Small town life, a stray dog the family takes in, intergenerational relationships, and learning to accept change when security is all you want. I've previously enjoyed two other books by this author and this one was also a win. Bonus points that it was unexpectedly set on the Oregon coast, in a town where I spent a lot of time when I was eighteen.
The Friendship Bench: How Fourteen Grandmothers Inspired a Mental Health Revolution, written by Dixon Chibanda, MD
p. 92, She simply nodded and affirmed, "There is no culture that is superior to another culture."
p. 111, "The first thing you say is, 'I'm here for your. Would you like to share your story with me?'"
The Frozen River, written by Ariel Lawhon and narrated by Jane Oppenheimer with author's note narrated by Lawhon
p. 120, However, the key to letting God completely heal you is to fully grieve as you surrender the hope you had that things could be different and trust that He will redeem what you've been through in ways you can't see at the time. He will truly give us beauty for the ashes of things in our lives that have burned down.
p. 137, There is something incredibly healing about getting to be the thing in someone else's life that you wished you'd had in your own.
p. 147, Whatever we value or pay the most attention to in our children's lives are the things we're telling them are the most important. So if they see us focus on social standing, athletic achievements, academic prowess, and material things more than on kindness, contentment, humility, and respect, we're failing them as humans.
Here One Moment, written by Liane Moriarty and narrated by Caroline Lee and Geraldine Hakewill
Moriarty, an Australian author, has written several novels, but I'd never read any until this one came up as a "skip the line" option on Libby when I needed an audiobook. It starts with an older woman on a plane telling the other passengers at what age and in what manner she predicts they'll die. Their reactions vary from amusement to anger, but everyone pays more attention when the first prediction comes true. Alternating between the woman's life story and the experiences of several passengers who were impacted by the predictions she made about them, this is a story about family, friendship, and romantic pursuits, as well as of the power of fear, what it means to live, and the reasons we make the choices we do. I learned about this book on Modern Mrs. Darcy - My favorite audiobooks of 2025.
4:48:24, "Don't buy into this idea that you've only truly lived if you've traveled. As if taking the same photos at the same tourist spots as everyone else is the only thing that counts as living."
8:29:05, Marriage is a mysterious institution, even from the inside. Sometimes it can feel like a softly furnished minimum security prison.
I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death, written by Maggie O'Farrell
Usually a novelist, O'Farrell shifted to memoir for this book. Each chapter is about a time her life came close to ending. Chance encounters, childhood disease, medical catastrophe, plans gone awry - and, in the final chapter, her own daughter's daily battle to stay alive. In writing about all the times she could have died, her book also becomes about the gift of living. I found the writing style beautiful, her use of words artistic. Anne Bogel is a fan of O'Farrell, so I probably heard about this book on an episode of What Should I Read Next? and failed to make note of it, but I'm not sure.
p. 119 (quoting Seven Gothic Tales, written by Karen Blixen), I know a cure for everything: salt water ... in one way or the other. Sweat, or tears, or the salt sea.
The Night in Question, written by Susan Fletcher
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, written by Betty Smith and narrated by Kate Burton with afterword written and narrated by Jacquelyn Mitchard
I'd never read this classic book and checked it out when it showed up on Libby's "skip the line" list. This character driven story is set in the early 1900s and chronicles the life of a girl from age 11 to 17, including several immediate and extended family members. It deals with a variety of experiences - poverty, education, hard work, alcoholism, social class, gender norms, family life, career aspirations, political situations - in ways that are tender, funny, sad, maddening, and very human. I enjoyed the book and plan to watch the movie.
2:52:34, She started a new life where her old one left off. She exchanged her tenderness for capability. She gave up her dreams and took over hard realities in their place.
4:49:22, Oh, magic hour, when a child first knows it can read printed words.
5:20:19, "You had tickets, but you thought you could be smart and get something you weren't entitled to. When people gamble, they think only of winning. They never think of losing. Remember this: Someone has to lose and it's just as apt to be you as the other fellow."
5:57:14, Francie had heard swearing since she had heard words. Obscenity and profanity had no meaning as such among those people. They were emotional expressions of inarticulate people with small vocabularies. They made a kind of dialect. The phrases could mean many things according to the expression and tone used in saying them. So now, when Francie heard themselves called "lousy bastards", she smiled tremulously at the kind man. She knew that he was really saying, "Goodbye. God bless you."
13:19, "I will not speak falsely and say to you, 'Do not grieve for me when I go.' I have loved my children and tried to be a good mother and it is right that my children grieve for me. But let your grief be gentle and brief, and let resignation creep into it."
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 2, written by Beth Brower and narrated by Genevieve Gaunt
